Collin Wilcox (actress)
Encyclopedia
Collin Wilcox was an American actress in film, on stage and television. She was also credited as Collin Wilcox-Horne or Collin Wilcox-Paxton.
She was born in Cincinnati and moved with her family to Highlands, North Carolina
, as a baby. She made her professional debut in Chicago as part of the improvisational group
, The Compass Players, which included Mike Nichols
, Elaine May
, and Shelley Berman
. In 1958, Wilcox won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in The Day Money Stopped on Broadway
. She starred in the 1961 play Look, We've Come Through with Burt Reynolds
on Broadway. She replaced another actress in the 1963 revival of Eugene O'Neill
's Strange Interlude
and then went on to do the 1965 play The Family Way, both on Broadway.
Wilcox is perhaps best known for her role in the 1962 film
To Kill a Mockingbird
, in which she played Mayella Violet Ewell, who falsely accuses Tom Robinson (Brock Peters
) of raping
her. Her best-known television appearance may have been The Twilight Zone
episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You
" in 1964. In 1974, she co-starred with Peter Falk
and Robert Conrad
in the Columbo episode "An Exercise in Fatality".
conference in Monterey, California
, where an official had to remind participants that, "Collin is here at this conference because she believes in the cause. She is not the character in the film."
.
She was born in Cincinnati and moved with her family to Highlands, North Carolina
Highlands, North Carolina
Highlands is an incorporated town in Macon County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located on a plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains, within the Nantahala National Forest, it lies mostly in southeastern Macon County and slightly in southwestern Jackson County, in the Highlands and...
, as a baby. She made her professional debut in Chicago as part of the improvisational group
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
, The Compass Players, which included Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, Elaine May
Elaine May
Elaine May is an American film director, screenwriter and actress. She achieved her greatest fame in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines in partnership with Mike Nichols...
, and Shelley Berman
Shelley Berman
Sheldon "Shelley" Berman is an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, lecturer, and poet.- Early life :Berman was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Irene and Nathan Berman.- Career :...
. In 1958, Wilcox won the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in The Day Money Stopped on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. She starred in the 1961 play Look, We've Come Through with Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
on Broadway. She replaced another actress in the 1963 revival of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Strange Interlude
Strange Interlude
Strange Interlude is an experimental play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill finished the play in 1923, but it was not produced on Broadway until 1928, when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Lynn Fontanne originated the central role of Nina Leeds on Broadway...
and then went on to do the 1965 play The Family Way, both on Broadway.
Wilcox is perhaps best known for her role in the 1962 film
1962 in film
The year 1962 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May - The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government....
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
, in which she played Mayella Violet Ewell, who falsely accuses Tom Robinson (Brock Peters
Brock Peters
Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
) of raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
her. Her best-known television appearance may have been The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You
Number 12 Looks Just Like You
"Number 12 Looks Just Like You" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:In a future society, all young adults go through a process known as "the Transformation," in which each person's body and face are changed to mimic a physically attractive design...
" in 1964. In 1974, she co-starred with Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
and Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
in the Columbo episode "An Exercise in Fatality".
Civil rights activism
She recalled receiving "unfriendly looks" when she showed up at a NAACPNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
conference in Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
, where an official had to remind participants that, "Collin is here at this conference because she believes in the cause. She is not the character in the film."
Death
On October 14, 2009, Wilcox died from brain cancer, aged 74, at her home in Highlands, North CarolinaHighlands, North Carolina
Highlands is an incorporated town in Macon County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located on a plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains, within the Nantahala National Forest, it lies mostly in southeastern Macon County and slightly in southwestern Jackson County, in the Highlands and...
.
Family
She is survived by her third husband, Scott Paxton, whom she married in 1979; three children, Kimberly Horne, Michael G. Paxton, and William Horne; and three grandchildren.Selected filmography
- Twice Upon a Time (1953)
- The Member of the WeddingThe Member of the WeddingThe Member of the Wedding is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete—though she interrupted the work for a few months to write the short novel The Ballad of the Sad Cafe....
(1958) - To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird (film)To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
(1962) - The Twilight Zone (TV) (1964) (episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like YouNumber 12 Looks Just Like You"Number 12 Looks Just Like You" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:In a future society, all young adults go through a process known as "the Transformation," in which each person's body and face are changed to mimic a physically attractive design...
") - The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: "The Monkey's Paw: A RetellingThe Monkey's Paw"The Monkey's Paw" is a horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs. It was published in England in 1902.The story is based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an...
" (episode aired originally on April 19, 1965) (TV) - The Fugitive (TV series)The Fugitive (TV series)The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
: episodes – "The Good Guys and the Bad Guys" (1965) & "Approach with Care" (1966) (TV) - The Sound of Anger (1968) (TV)
- The Name of the Game Is Kill (1968)
- The Baby MakerThe Baby MakerThe Baby Maker is a film directed and co-written by James Bridges and released by Twentieth Century Fox.-Plot:Barbara Hershey portrays a flower child who is hired to have the baby of a middle-class couple ....
(1970) - The Revolutionary (1970)
- Catch-22Catch-22 (film)Catch-22 is a 1970 satirical war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel, it was the work of a talented production team which included director Mike Nichols and...
(1970) - A Cry in the Wilderness (1974) (TV)
- The Autobiography of Miss Jane PittmanThe Autobiography of Miss Jane PittmanThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a 1971 novel by Ernest J. Gaines. The story depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of the narrator, a woman named Jane Pittman...
(1974) (TV) - Columbo: An Exercise in Fatality (1974) (TV episode)
- The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975) (TV)
- The Streets of San FranciscoThe Streets of San FranciscoThe Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
("Betrayed") (TV episode) - Jaws 2Jaws 2Jaws 2 is a 1978 thriller film and the first sequel to Steven Spielberg's Jaws , which is based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name...
(1978) - Under This Sky (1979) (TV)
- FoxfireFoxfire (1987 film)Foxfire is a 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie starring Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and John Denver, based on the play of the same name. The movie aired on CBS on December 13, 1987. Tandy won an Emmy Award for her performance.-External links:*...
(1987) (TV) - Wildflower (1991) (TV)
- The Portrait (1993) (TV)
- Death in Small Doses (1995) (TV)
- Twisted Desire (1996) (TV)
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
- The Chester Story (2003)